Like most social networks, Instagram doesn't cost a cent to use, but it costs billions of them to own and run. Facebook paid a pretty penny to acquire the network last year, and the time has come to recoup those costs. Soon Instagram will start dishing out ads in the middle of your feed, and it will do so in a way Facebook users should already be familiar with.

The rollout is expected to take place over the next couple of months to users in the US, at which point they will start seeing the occasional ad pop up in their Instagram feeds.

Earlier today, we received a few emails from a tipster claiming to be running a build of the much-hyped and hotly anticipated Android 4.4 KitKat. I'll cut straight to the chase – we're pretty sure they're not real.

The photos we were provided show an alleged KitKat home screen, messaging app, dialer app, and "about" screen, each with their own design tweaks that, pretty or not, likely won't be showing up in official Android any time soon.

The Kindle Fire isn't the type of Android tablet that sends enthusiasts running to the store in droves, but that shouldn't diminish all that the tablet gets right. It remains one of the best-selling Android tablets out there, and if you aren't turned off by ads - excuse me, special offers - it's one of the best new tablets you can find at such a low price. Amazon will offer a refreshed version of their popular tablet anytime now, but new leaked photos may just spoil the surprise of what the company's upcoming tablet will look like.

Google Maps is practical, but Google Earth is kind of the show off side of Google's mapping project. You can explore satellite imagery from all over the world and check out detailed 3D photos of many areas. Now there's even more to see in Google Earth with the addition of your geocoded Google+ photos.

Every time Google pushes out a new version of Android, they lift up a new statue in front of the Googleplex commemorating whichever sweet desert serves as the current codename. When the company revealed Android 4.4 yesterday and its codename "KitKat," they released a photo of the new statue standing in front of similar ones for Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich, Honeycomb, Gingerbread, etc. Those statues are all made by the same company, Themendous, and those fine folks have released photos documenting the creation of the latest statue.

Update:According to GigaOm, today's Galaxy Gear images are definitely of a prototype, as VentureBeat speculated could be the case earlier. Additionally, GigaOm's sources indicate that the watch will be running Android 4.3 with Bluetooth LE connectivity, a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 processor (with Mali-400 MP4 GPU), and the ability to make phone calls. Our original post follows below.

We're looking forward to getting a glimpse of the Galaxy Gear, Samsung's rumored smart watch, expected for an IFA reveal.

According to Googler Virgil Dobjanschi, there's a new version of Google+ for Android rolling out the Play Store right now. While there's no official changelog and the Play Store entry doesn't seem to be telling much, the biggest addition is a new notification for when your photos have been given the "Auto Awesome" treatment. If you'll recall from the 2013 Google I/O presentation, Auto Awesome is a processing feature that automatically turns similar photos into collages or animated GIFs.

Amazon's cloud service is a little behind the curve when it comes to mobile apps, mostly because it's segmented on photo, music, and general storage lines. But today's update to the Cloud Drive Photos app is a big one: users can now upload videos. Not just in the old-fashioned file browser way, either - Amazon has enabled auto-upload for videos, just like the photo options that were already in place.

Yesterday, @evleaks scoredseveral press images of the new Nexus 7, which is expected to be revealed by Google on July 24th. Not even a day later, we now have an exclusive gallery of more recent press shots that not only offer several more angles, but also showcase what I believe is the new default Android 4.3 Nexus wallpaper which replaces the Android 4.2 wallpaper seen in the previous pictures.

Pacific Rim is going to be in theaters soon, and it's got giant robots and monsters fighting each other. You know what else has giant robots and monsters fighting each other? Pacific Rim:Kaiju Battle, which is now on Android. This is an augmented reality fighting game that lets you put a miniature cityscape with monsters on any flat surface. It actually works, too.